Western Legal Tradition
Professor Fagelson
Paper #1 — Spring 2006
: Wednesday 8 March 2006 @ 1:00pm |
2 Papers |
Submit Both Papers to the digital drop box as |
Paper 1 Between 1600-2000 words Paper 2 No more than 500 words. |
[Please place word limit at end of paper] |
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Topic
Events in Iraq are spiraling out of control and things are not looking too good in Afghanistan either. Desperate for a solution, President Bush convenes a secret meeting with several wise men who know how to whip a country into order. Some of them are long dead so they are channeled into the meeting. The group was filed with luminaries such as Pharaoh, Hammurabi, Moses, Cicero, Augustine and Aquinas. The President needed to get the widest spectrum of viewpoints so he also invited Don Corleone and Osama Bin Laden (both were given safe conduct so the FBI wouldn’t hassle them.
After much bickering President Bush decided to send these wise men to Iraq and come up with a report on what the rule of law might look like in contemporary Iraq. Must there be some charismatic God ruling things, as Pharaoh asserted, must it be power guided by god or in the end, or is it simply all about power used to keep order.
Because of your excellent diplomatic skills, the President appoints you head of party and asks you to produce a report detailing the ideal version of law. The president wants to know all the arguments, however, so you must tell him the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
Write this report focusing NOT on specific facts about Iraq, but rather what it tales for a society to
be rule governed. You can mention details about Iraq if it helps illustrate your point but your paper
should be primarily about the ideas of law of your party members. You should discuss the views of at least 3 of the wise men and then either Don Corleone or Osama Bin Laden.
In explaining your answer, you should consider some of the following issues:
1. Are these systems of governance of equal moral standing? What factors, if any, determine whether a system has any moral standing? Can you offer any proof to defend your position? Why or why not?
2. Does the appeal to some sort of religious foundation matter in determining whether or not a society is law governed? Why or why not?
3. Does a sincere desire by the law-giver to advance the group’s well being make any difference to whether he or she is governing by law?
4. Does it matter whether the subjects of law believe the law advances their interest, even if it doesn’t?
NOTE:
You are not expected to do any research beyond the course materials.
Some suggestions:
* After you have given your best argument(s) in defense of your thesis, give the best three objections you can think of and refute them in the paper.
* The essay should form a coherent whole. The body of the paper should support the conclusion.
* Support general statements with specific facts and citations.
Grading
Papers will be evaluated on the basis of coherence, clarity, accuracy, and originality. Grammatical English is an important component of clarity.
Need Help?
* If you need help in formulating your ideas or understanding the assignment, see me or Jennifer during our office hours.
* If you need help with your writing, go to the Writing Center or call x2829.
Plagiarism |
Plagiarism is representing someone else's language or ideas as your own. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited by the university and will result in disciplinary action. You must write your own paper. In your paper, identify all direct quotations with quotation marks and footnotes. Identify sources of information that you paraphrase with footnotes or in the text. Citations should indicate author, title, and page number; websites may be identified by the URL (http://... |